Natasha's Awakening (15 page)

                                                     …………………………………………………………

It was the sound of a male voice in her ear and a damp, cool hand gently shaking her that woke Natasha. She opened her eyes, jumping slightly, confusion clouding her gaze for a moment, until her head cleared enough to suddenly remember where she was. The sun had shifted, the glare of it hitting her eyes, making her lift one arm to shield them from the brightness of its rays.

One of the surfers who had been on the rocks earlier stood before her, his body covered in droplets of water and a light covering of sand. He was quite tall, his skin tanned from probably hours at the beach. He had sandy blonde hair that brushed his shoulders, water dripping from it and running like tiny rivers down his chest, across his washboard abs before soaking into the waistband of his board shorts.

“Sorry to wake you.” He said. “But you’re in the sun and you don’t look like you’ve got sunscreen on to protect that gorgeous skin of yours.” He grinned. He held out his hand to her. “I’m Brodie.”

Natasha pulled herself upright, glancing at the hand Brodie held out to her. Shaking her head slightly to clear the last cobwebs of sleep from her brain, she held her hand out and took his. “I’m Natasha.” She told him. “Thank you, I wouldn’t want to get burned.” She said, her eyes dropping down to inspect her arms for signs that her skin had been exposed to the sun for too long. It was pink, but fortunately it looked like Brodie had woken her before she’d been in the direct rays of the sun too long.

“So do you live around here?” He asked his tone friendly, his eyes drifting over her, appreciation for what he was seeing obvious in his gaze.

“Ah, no, I’m staying in the city with a friend.” Natasha told him.

“You should have brought your friend with you then, so she could have stopped you falling asleep in the sun.” Brodie said.

“Well I was in the shade when I first sat down.” Natasha pointed out. “Plus my friend is a he and he got called in to work unexpectedly,” she told him, the tone of her voice betraying her annoyance that Eric had left her alone.

“Now that’s just wrong.” Brodie smiled at her. “If I was your friend, I wouldn’t leave you alone for anything, no matter how important it might be.”

Her eyes shot up to his attractive face. His eyes were travelling over her with definate male interest. She groaned to herself, she didn’t need this. She wasn’t here to be chatted up by a handsome man admittedly but quite obviously a few years younger than her.

Suddenly Natasha thought of the time. She fished around in her bag, pulling out her phone and groaned out loud when she saw the screen. Her phone was off. She tried to turn it back on but it wouldn’t respond. The battery was dead flat.

“Damn, damn, damn.” She cursed. She felt a twinge of nerves in her stomach as her anxiety grew. “Do you have the time Brodie?” She asked him.

He held up his wrists. “Well not on me.” He joked. “Hang on I’ve got my phone over there.” He pointed towards where the rest of his mates were watching them intently, smiles plastered on their faces as they watched their friend trying his luck with her.

“Hang on.” He said and turned to jog back over the rocks until he could grab his phone.

One of his mates handed it to him and he trotted back to her.

“It’s just after four.” He told her.

“FOUR, four pm?” Natasha shrieked.

Brodie’s face broke out in a big grin, his teeth looking very white against his tanned skin. “Well, it’s obviously not 4am.” He laughed.

She jumped up, snatching up her lingerie bag. “Thank you.” She said. “I have to go. I’m late, really late.” She said on a groan. Damn she’d been asleep for a couple of hours, she had been tired, but then Eric’s passion had denied her getting any decent rest. Hopefully she would get back before he did because she couldn’t ring him with her phone being dead flat. If he got back before she did, he wouldn’t know where she was since she hadn’t left a note for him.

“Aw don’t tell me you have to go already.” Brodie looked a bit crestfallen.

“I’m sorry.” Natasha said “But I never intended being out this long, I really have to go. It was nice meeting you and thank you for waking me, but I’m sorry again, I have to go.”

She brushed past him and started walking away at a brisk pace, heading back the way she’d come. The number of people on the beach had dropped except for those that were still trying to soak up the last rays of the day and of course the surfers, they practically lived on the beach.

Once she got back to solid, sand free ground, Natasha slipped her shoes back on and broke into a jog back towards where the bus had dropped her off earlier that day. A quick glance at the timetable at the shelter told her she’d missed the last bus of the day by only 5 minutes so she was going to have to get a taxi.

She scanned the area where she stood looking for a taxi rank or even a taxi driving past would have been good at this time, but nothing. Her anxiety levels rose, she had to get back to the hotel. She still hoped that she might get back before Eric and with that thought going through her mind, she started walking towards the huge Westfield shopping centre she could see. Surely there would be a taxi rank or a phone at least so she could call one.

When Natasha got to the huge shopping centre she stepped through the automatic doors into a vast building on several levels, shops everywhere. There were still a lot of people getting around shopping.

The cool of the air conditioning chilled her heated skin and she realised she felt quite parched. She definitely needed a drink.

With no idea where to go, she started walking and as she walked past a jewellers a bracelet in the window caught her eye. It was sterling silver, heavy looking, a men’s chunky bracelet and Natasha fell in love with it. She would love to see Eric wearing it, but she wasn’t sure if he would even wear something like that. She’d seen him wearing a silver chain occasionally and he seemed to have several expensive looking watches, but she wasn’t sure about the bracelet.

She moved in for a closer look, raising her eyes a little over the $350 price tag, but she couldn’t help herself, she wanted to buy it for Eric. Before she could overthink the situation, Natasha walked into the shop and was greeted by an older shop assistant who smiled at her.

“Can I help you?” She asked.

“The silver man’s bracelet in the window, I’d like to have a look at it please.” Natasha told her.

“Of course.” The woman said and moved off to unlock the cabinet, bringing the bracelet over to her and removing it from its protective padded box.

When she handed it to Natasha, the metal was cool in her hand, heavy, but so beautiful. The light hit the silver and it gleamed. She turned it over in the light, before slipping it over her hand where it settled on her wrist. It was too large on her of course, but it didn’t matter. She loved it. She decided to take the risk and buy it and hopefully Eric would like it.

Natasha smiled at the woman. “I’ll take it please. “ She said.

“Of course, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No, that’s all.” Natasha replied.

“Just one moment then.” The shop assistant said and she took the bracelet back off Natasha, slipped it into the box and reached down to pull out a gift bag from under the counter.

Natasha handed over her credit card to pay for it and once it was taken care of, she left with her gift for Eric. She wandered a bit further in the shopping centre until she found somewhere she could get a drink, bought herself a bottle of juice, then rushed back outside, right near a taxi rank as it turned out where there were several taxis lined up.

With a sigh of relief she hurried to the first one in line, jumped in and the driver turned to her. “Where to Miss.”

Natasha gave him the name of the hotel and the taxi pulled out and headed back towards Circular Quay. She fell back in her seat with a sigh of relief. She might be lucky and could still beat Eric back, not that she was going to lie to him and pretend she’d stayed in all day, but she just wanted to get back before him since she had no idea how he would react, if he’d be worried plus he could have been trying to call her but with her phone dead flat she had no idea.

Natasha was so busy with her thoughts that she didn’t even notice when the taxi pulled up outside the hotel until the driver spoke to her. With a softly spoken “Sorry.” She paid him and climbed out of the taxi, standing at the large glass doors of the hotel for a moment as the taxi pulled away.

She gathered her packages up in one hand and stepped into the luxurious foyer of the hotel, glancing over to the front desk where the young man smiled at her. Natasha smiled back but continued on to the row of elevators, pushing the button and waiting for the doors to open.

The doors silently opened and she hurried into the elevator, punching the button for the penthouse before collapsing back against the mirrored walls as it began its swift ascent. While the elevator was making its way to the top floor, Natasha rummaged in her bag until she found the card she needed to unlock the door and when the doors slid open on the penthouse level, she hurried out and had just started to swipe the card to unlock the door when suddenly it was yanked open, so violently Natasha leapt back in shock.

Eric stood in the open door way and damn but he looked as sexy as sin. He wore faded blue jeans, fraying around the hems at his feet, the denim lighter over his knees, but not quite ready to tear yet. He had a black shirt on, unbuttoned, parted enough that his incredible chest and abdominals were on display. His breathing was rapid like he’d been exerting himself and his hair was damp, so he’d recently showered. The thick strands were standing up and disheveled as though he’d been running his hands through it numerous times.

Natasha’s eyes moved up the length of his gorgeous body until they came in contact with his eyes and she gasped her hand going to her throat when she saw the fury burning in their deep blue depths. She had never seen that level of rage on his face before and her heart started beating rapidly in response, her lips trembling. She bit down on her bottom lip to try and stop it and Eric’s eyes moved to watch as her teeth gnawed at its fullness.

He stepped forward, his hands clenched at his sides. “Where the fuck have you been?” He ground out, his voice low and menacing. “Why didn’t you answer your phone? I’ve been trying to ring you for fucking ages.”

“I….I..I went out.” She said, her voice higher than normal. “My phone is flat.” She hated that there was a quiver in her tone. Natasha went to back up another step, ready to flee, when a strong hand lunged out latching on her wrist and she was hauled forward, collapsing against Eric’s hard body and he dragged her inside, slamming the door behind them.

                                                                           Chapter 8.

Eric shoved Natasha up against the closed door causing her bags to fall from her hand. His hands came up on either side of her head effectively trapping her. “I asked you where the fuck have you been?” He repeated.

“You left me, I didn’t want to stay here alone.” She whispered, her body trembling in reaction to his anger.

He swore again. “For fuck sakes Natasha, I left you a note. I had to go there was a problem with the London office ok? Carmichael flew out here especially to meet with me, what the hell was I supposed to do? Tell him I was too busy fucking you to see him?” Eric hit the door with the palm of his hand and Natasha jumped, flinching at his harsh words. She looked up at him seeing the frustration and anger etched in his face and suddenly she wondered why the hell she was feeling guilty when she’d done nothing wrong and it was his damned fault her mobile phone was flat. If he hadn’t been consuming so much of her time, she would have remembered to charge it.

She raised her hands to place her palms flat against his chest and she shoved him as hard as she could. Eric staggered back, caught off guard by her sudden moves and then Natasha slapped him across the face, the crack of her hand coming into contact with his cheek loud in the room. She watched with a certain degree of horror and fascination as his cheek reddened in the shape of her hand.

“How dare you.” Natasha said, her voice shaking with her rising anger. “How dare you talk to me like that. I went out, you weren’t here, I chose not to stay here on my own, so YOU fucking well get over it!” She said, getting louder until she was finally yelling at him, her eyes flashing with rage.

“Don’t ever hit me again and don’t fucking well raise your voice at me.” Eric’s tone was menacing and she did a very unlady like snort and opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with his order when suddenly Eric’s mouth came crashing down on hers, effectively cutting her off before she could mouth off at him.

Natasha was still too mad at him to want the invasion of his tongue as it thrust into her mouth and she tried to turn her head away, her hands pushing at his chest, but she couldn’t move him. Eric’s hands tangled in her hair holding her head still as he kissed her roughly, his lips hard on hers, crushing her lips against her teeth.

He pressed his hips against her and she could feel the evidence of his arousal against her stomach. He thrust against her, groaning into her mouth, his tongue coaxing and caressing her and Natasha’s anger was suddenly gone as quickly as it had flared up. She started kissing him back, her tongue dueling with his, her hands moving restlessly over his chest, sliding into the opening of his shirt, running her hands over his chest, and up to his shoulders where she pushed his shirt off. She made a sound of frustration when it wouldn’t fall free since he still had his hands in her hair. She tugged on it in impatiently trying to pull it off him so she could access the smooth, muscled skin beneath.

Eric dropped his arms, shrugging out of his shirt and with all that magnificent chest of his on display, Natasha moved her hands over him, caressing him, tugging gently on his nipples until they hardened under her palms. He groaned again, thrusting against her before tearing his mouth away from hers, his breathing harsh. He pressed his lips against her neck, nibbling and tasting her slightly salty skin, his breath hot and moist against her.